SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A Honduran child plays at the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border with his father on June 21, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
As Trump Orders Sessions to Go After His Political Foes, Reminder That More Than 500 Children Still Separated From Their Families
A month after court-ordered family reunification deadline, the DOJ—which Trumps think should be chasing down right-wing conspiracy theories—continues to prove itself incapable of putting children back into the arms of their families
Aug 24, 2018
As President Donald Trump started his day by demanding the Department of Justice (DOJ) target his growing list of political enemies, department lawyers admitted in a court-mandated status report that they have still, thus far, failed to return more than 500 children to their parents, a month after the deadline for family reunification passed.
The document was filed in the ACLU's ongoing lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's family separation policy. A total of 528 children, including 23 under the age of five, remain in government-run detention centers around the country, and 343 of those children's parents have been deported.
The government has argued that deported parents have to be reunited with their children outside of the country, eliminating their children's chance to exercise their legal right to asylum in the United States.
Many of the deported parents signed so-called "voluntary departure orders" at the urging of the Trump administration, with the understanding that doing so would allow them to see their children again.
The ACLU has formed a steering committee with groups including Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Women's Refugee Commission (WRC), and Justice in Motion to assist the government in locating the parents who have been deported, as the DOJ has proven unable and unwilling to find them. Earlier this month, the Trump administration attempted to shift responsibility for the ongoing separation crisis onto the ACLU--a move that was soundly rejected by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who is overseeing the family separation case.
"All of this is the result of the government's separation, and then inability and failure to track and reunite," Sabraw said. "And for every parent who is not located, there will be a permanently orphaned child, and that is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration."
As ACLU digital communications strategist Amrit Cheng wrote this week, the steering committee's attempts to reunite the families have been made even more difficult by the government's failure to release contact information for the deported parents in a timely manner. The DOJ waited several weeks before turning over parents' phone numbers.
"Thus far, many of the phone numbers have been inoperable," wrote Cheng. "The fact of the matter is that many parents may be in hiding, considering that they have all been deported to countries which they fled in the first place. It certainly doesn't help that the government may have had this information for more than a month before handing it over to us. ...Every additional day that children wait to be with their parents is damaging--it's simple unacceptable that the government had information that could help reunite them faster but sat on it."
The ACLU is returning to Sabraw's courtroom on Friday to continue their case demanding that the Trump administration do everything in its power to reunite the hundreds of families that remain separated.
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. If you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
As President Donald Trump started his day by demanding the Department of Justice (DOJ) target his growing list of political enemies, department lawyers admitted in a court-mandated status report that they have still, thus far, failed to return more than 500 children to their parents, a month after the deadline for family reunification passed.
The document was filed in the ACLU's ongoing lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's family separation policy. A total of 528 children, including 23 under the age of five, remain in government-run detention centers around the country, and 343 of those children's parents have been deported.
The government has argued that deported parents have to be reunited with their children outside of the country, eliminating their children's chance to exercise their legal right to asylum in the United States.
Many of the deported parents signed so-called "voluntary departure orders" at the urging of the Trump administration, with the understanding that doing so would allow them to see their children again.
The ACLU has formed a steering committee with groups including Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Women's Refugee Commission (WRC), and Justice in Motion to assist the government in locating the parents who have been deported, as the DOJ has proven unable and unwilling to find them. Earlier this month, the Trump administration attempted to shift responsibility for the ongoing separation crisis onto the ACLU--a move that was soundly rejected by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who is overseeing the family separation case.
"All of this is the result of the government's separation, and then inability and failure to track and reunite," Sabraw said. "And for every parent who is not located, there will be a permanently orphaned child, and that is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration."
As ACLU digital communications strategist Amrit Cheng wrote this week, the steering committee's attempts to reunite the families have been made even more difficult by the government's failure to release contact information for the deported parents in a timely manner. The DOJ waited several weeks before turning over parents' phone numbers.
"Thus far, many of the phone numbers have been inoperable," wrote Cheng. "The fact of the matter is that many parents may be in hiding, considering that they have all been deported to countries which they fled in the first place. It certainly doesn't help that the government may have had this information for more than a month before handing it over to us. ...Every additional day that children wait to be with their parents is damaging--it's simple unacceptable that the government had information that could help reunite them faster but sat on it."
The ACLU is returning to Sabraw's courtroom on Friday to continue their case demanding that the Trump administration do everything in its power to reunite the hundreds of families that remain separated.
As President Donald Trump started his day by demanding the Department of Justice (DOJ) target his growing list of political enemies, department lawyers admitted in a court-mandated status report that they have still, thus far, failed to return more than 500 children to their parents, a month after the deadline for family reunification passed.
The document was filed in the ACLU's ongoing lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's family separation policy. A total of 528 children, including 23 under the age of five, remain in government-run detention centers around the country, and 343 of those children's parents have been deported.
The government has argued that deported parents have to be reunited with their children outside of the country, eliminating their children's chance to exercise their legal right to asylum in the United States.
Many of the deported parents signed so-called "voluntary departure orders" at the urging of the Trump administration, with the understanding that doing so would allow them to see their children again.
The ACLU has formed a steering committee with groups including Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Women's Refugee Commission (WRC), and Justice in Motion to assist the government in locating the parents who have been deported, as the DOJ has proven unable and unwilling to find them. Earlier this month, the Trump administration attempted to shift responsibility for the ongoing separation crisis onto the ACLU--a move that was soundly rejected by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who is overseeing the family separation case.
"All of this is the result of the government's separation, and then inability and failure to track and reunite," Sabraw said. "And for every parent who is not located, there will be a permanently orphaned child, and that is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration."
As ACLU digital communications strategist Amrit Cheng wrote this week, the steering committee's attempts to reunite the families have been made even more difficult by the government's failure to release contact information for the deported parents in a timely manner. The DOJ waited several weeks before turning over parents' phone numbers.
"Thus far, many of the phone numbers have been inoperable," wrote Cheng. "The fact of the matter is that many parents may be in hiding, considering that they have all been deported to countries which they fled in the first place. It certainly doesn't help that the government may have had this information for more than a month before handing it over to us. ...Every additional day that children wait to be with their parents is damaging--it's simple unacceptable that the government had information that could help reunite them faster but sat on it."
The ACLU is returning to Sabraw's courtroom on Friday to continue their case demanding that the Trump administration do everything in its power to reunite the hundreds of families that remain separated.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy